Rent The Hired Hand (1971)
3.5 of 5 from 77 ratings
1h 27min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
After the success of 'Easy Rider', its star and co-creator Peter Fonda was given the green light to shoot the movie of his choice. The result was 'The Hired Hand', an elegiac western that stands firmly as a classic of modern American cinema. Chasing their dream of a better life, Harry (Fonda) and his good friends Arch (Warren Oates) have drifted across the plains of America together. However, Harry has grown tired of his transient existence and decided to return to the wife and the child that he left years before. At first, refusing to accept him back, his wife orders him to sleep in the barn and work the farm, strictly as a hired hand. Soon their romance rekindles, and they rediscover the happiness they had lost. But as bad news of Archie reaches Harry, he is forced to make the most costly choice of his life. - Actors:
- Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Verna Bloom, Robert Pratt, Severn Darden, Rita Rogers, Ann Doran, Ted Markland, Owen Orr, Al Hopson, Megan Denver, Michael McClure, Gray Johnson, Len Marsal, Larry Hagman
- Directors:
- Peter Fonda
- Producers:
- William Hayward
- Writers:
- Alan Sharp
- Studio:
- Tartan
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics
- Collections:
- 21 Reasons to Love, 21 Reasons to Love..Modern Westerns, A Brief History of Film..., What We Were Watching in 1971
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 21/11/2016
- Run Time:
- 90 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Audio commentary by actor-director Peter Fonda
- The Return of The Hired Hand, a 2003 documentary containing interviews with Fonda, cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, composer Bruce Langhorne, actor Verna Bloom and others Deleted Scenes
- The Odd Man, Charles Gormley and Bill Forsyth's 1978 documentary portrait of Scottish screenwriters, including Alan Sharp
- Interview with Martin Scorsese
- Warren Oates and Peter Fonda at the National Film Theatre, an audio recording of the actors' appearance atthe NFT in 1971
- Stills Gallery
- Trailers
- TV Spots
- Radio Spots
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Reviews (1) of The Hired Hand
Easy Riders, Weary Roads - The Hired Hand review by griggs
Peter Fonda’s The Hired Hand is a dreamy, melancholic take on the West, shaped by the countercultural mood of its time. Fresh off Easy Rider, Fonda trades highways for open plains, crafting an anti-Western that dismantles the genre’s myths. With drifting, world-weary characters, a slow-burn pace, and Vilmos Zsigmond’s hazy cinematography, the film exerts a quiet, inevitable pull. It’s a story of regret, belonging, and the weight of past choices, more a hippie daydream than a classic Western. Its meditative style won’t be for everyone. Still, its poetic sadness persists, making it a fascinating, if distant, appraisal on the Western genre.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.